Planning the Curriculum for Pupils with Special Educational Needs 2nd Edition Other titles of interest: A Sensory Approach to the Curriculum for Pupils with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties Judy Davis 1–85346–671–9 Towards a Curriculum for All A Practical Guide for Developing an Inclusive Curriculum for Pupils Attaining Significantly Below Age-Related Expectations Dorchester Curriculum Group 1–85346–773–1 Inclusion and School Improvement A Practical Guide Rita Cheminais 1–84312–005–4 First Steps in Inclusion A Handbook for Parents, Teachers, Governors and LEAs Stephanie Lorenz 1–85346–763–4 The SENCO Handbook (4th Edition) Working Within a Whole-School Approach Elizabeth Cowne 1–84312–031–3 Planning the curriculum for pupils with special educational needs A practical guide Second Edition Richard Byers and Richard Rose David Fulton Publishers 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 First published in Great Britain in 2004 by David Fulton Publishers Transferred to digital printing David Fulton Publishers is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © Richard Byers and Richard Rose 2004 Note: The right of the authors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 185346 7790 The materials in this publication may be photocopied only for use within the purchasing organisation. Otherwise, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk SENCO roles in admCinosntteernintgs to their patients Acknowledgements viii Foreword ix Chapter 1 The curriculum planning process 1 Aspects of the curriculum planning process 1 The legislative position 3 An inclusive curriculum 7 Closing comments 9 Chapter 2 Establishing principles 11 The whole curriculum 11 Negotiating curriculum content 14 Managing the whole curriculum 17 Chapter 3 Making and applying policy 19 The relationship between school development planning and policy development 20 A model for policy development 21 Using the model 24 Activity 1: the planning stage 24 Activity 2: the formulation stage 27 Activity 3: the implementation stage 28 Activity 4: the review stage 30 Policy roles and responsibilities 32 Governors 32 SENCOs 32 Chapter 4 Long-term planning 36 Breadth, balance and relevance … 36 v vi Contents … in the whole curriculum 36 … within subjects 36 Continuing work 38 The key skills and other priorities for learning 38 Continuing skills and processes in the subjects 38 Discrete units of work 41 Inter-subject links and linked units of work 41 Making long-term plans 42 A plan for Key Stage 1 42 A plan for Key Stage 3 44 Closing comments 46 Chapter 5 Medium-term planning 48 Progression 48 Progression as differentiation 48 Four kinds of progression 49 Skill development 49 Entitlement to new content 50 Age-appropriate contexts 50 Progress towards functional application 51 Planning for progression in units of work 51 Breadth and balance 55 Aspects of medium-term planning 55 Objectives – ‘What do I want pupils to learn?’ 56 Key activities and experiences – ‘What will pupils do?’ 56 Assessment opportunities – ‘How will I know when pupils achieve or make progress?’ 58 Other aspects of medium-term planning 59 Modules 63 What is a curriculum module? 63 Module development in practice 66 Chapter 6 Short-term planning 73 Activity planning 73 Differentiation 78 Group work 80 Jigsawing 82 Envoying 85 Planning for individual pupils 89 Closing comments 91 Contents vii Chapter 7 Meeting individual needs 94 Individual education planning 94 What should be in an IEP? 95 Individual support programmes 99 The role of the key skills and other priorities for learning 100 Breadth and balance 105 Setting targets – pupil involvement 107 Potential barriers to involvement in target setting 107 Overcoming barriers to involvement 109 Chapter 8 Issues in assessment, recording and reporting 112 Recognising opportunities at the planning stage 112 Assessment in action 113 Records of achievement and experience 118 Accreditation 121 Closing comments 122 Chapter 9 Monitoring and co-ordination 124 What is the purpose of subject monitoring? 125 Monitoring – ‘I just don’t have the time’ 125 Using a curriculum monitoring diary 126 Further demands upon curriculum monitoring – whole-school target setting 135 What enables effective target setting? 137 Further demands upon curriculum monitoring – taking a more holistic view of pupil progress 138 Chapter 10 Meeting the challenge 142 School autonomy 143 Changing practice 144 Entitlement to content 144 Flexibility of access 145 Inclusion 145 Concluding remarks 145 References 147 SENCO roles in Aadcmkninoswtelreidngg ements to their patients We wish to dedicate this book to practitioners, with many thanks for affording us the privilege of sharing in your classroom processes and development tasks. The contents of this book belong, in many senses, to you, as you will recognise. We acknowledge in particular, Amwell View School, Stanstead Abbots; Brooke School, Rugby; Durants School, Enfield; Dycorts School, Romford; Falconer’s Hill Infants School, Daventry; Glenwood School, Dunstable; Grange School, Bedford; Greenfields School, Northampton; Greenside School, Stevenage; Heritage House School, Chesham; Hillcrest School, Dunstable; Jack Taylor School, Camden; John Smeaton Community High School, Leeds; Lancaster School, Westcliff-on-Sea; Lidgett Grove School, York; Meldreth Manor School (SCOPE), Royston; Montacute School, Poole; Pen y Cwm School, Ebbw Vale; Rees Thomas School, Cambridge; Rutland House School (SCOPE), Nottingham; St George’s School, Peterborough; St John’s School, Bedford; Watling View School, St Albans; Woodlands School, Chelmsford; the Northamptonshire Special Schools; staff in the Learning Support Services and schools in the London Borough of Newham; all the countless participants in staff development sessions pro- vided by ‘the two Richards’ and other teams of teachers who have influenced our thinking over the years. In addition, we wish to acknowledge the support of the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education and the Centre for Special Needs Education and Research, University College Northampton. Thank you all, staff and students, for your interest and support. Finally, we thank a number of individuals for their contributions to this volume: the irreplaceable Peggy Nunn for her help with the preparation of the manuscript; colleagues at David Fulton Publishers, for continuing support and patience; and Christina Tilstone for her Foreword. Richard Byers and Richard Rose October 2003 viii SENCO roles in admFoinrsetweroinrgd to their patients When the first edition of Planning the Curriculum for Pupils with Special Educational Needswas published in 1996, reviewers regarded it as essential reading for school staff. It would, they maintained, enable schools to develop the curriculum collaboratively in order to identify strengths and weaknesses and to acknowledge collective achieve- ments and successes. Both are vital elements that continue to be evident in this second edition, but the new material added by the ‘two Richards’ and their positive response to the radical, and often unpredictable, changes in education will also lead individual staff to a critical investigation of their own practices. The material includes, for example, information on the most recent guidance, notably the revised National Curriculum and the QCA Guidance on Planning, Teaching and Assessing the Curriculum for Pupils with Learning Difficulties, together with the updated Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. This book, therefore, serves two important functions: it encourages the develop- ment of a relevant curriculum to meet the needs of pupils with a wide range of needs within the reconsidered legal framework; at the same time, it promotes what is referred to in Chapter 3 as ‘self dialogue’. The content of each chapter ensures that such a dialogue is firmly embedded in school-focused and school-driven initiatives and is fundamental to the continuing professional development of each member of staff. ‘School development’ becomes ‘teacher development’ and, to this end, the two Richards do not prescribe set formulae, nor advocate specific courses of action. Rather, they have organised the book in such a way that excellent in-service strategies are provided which take into account the varying needs, expertise and experience of the individual. The selective readings and free-standing subsections, together with a rich range of practical examples, encourage members of staff to become reflective practitioners who can have confidence in their own skills in teaching and developing an appropriate curriculum for all pupils, including those with the most complex and challenging needs. Throughout it is stressed that the tried and tested ideas of the authors and the many teachers with whom they have worked, should be carefully considered, analysed and evaluated before being adopted by staff, taking into account the current state of curriculum development in their schools. The messages of engagement, dialogue and exploration are clearly set out in all sections and reflect the sentiments expressed in the proverb ‘by learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn’. As a result, the book makes an important contribution to the development of the curriculum and to the professional self-evaluation and development of all members of staff. Christina Tilstone January 2004 ix